My very first drama was in Stairway to Heaven in 2005 when my mum was raving about it and she forced me to 'just watch 1 episode' to see what I thought of it. So I reluctantly sat thinking, right just have to endure this painfully long hour. Little did I know that 1 hour has practically shaped my life. I became instantly hooked on it and since then to now I've watched over 80 kdramas, I started getting into kpop, korean culture, went to South Korea last year and started learning korean as a degree.

Funnily enough it was my mum that got me first hooked on kdramas and she got hooked on it from my grandma! Haha so it seems to be a tradition I'll have to keep up when I have a daughter in future.

My obsession with Kdrama started with Goong (Princess Hours) and Over the Rainbow back in like 2006ish. It's actually really hard to say which drama actually brought me over to the darkside. I guess that makes me an unfaithful cheater since I can't choose one because I fell in love with many. So I'm going to break it down into the following categories:

Melodrama - Stairway to Heaven and Autumn in my Heart
Romantic Comedy - Boys over Flower and Coffee Prince
Action / Thriller - City Hunter
Historical - Illjimae

These dramas have been there for me in good times and bad, through sickness and in health, and for richer or poorer. May they continue to be with me until death do us part.

P.S. - Happppppy Aniversarrrrry!!!

The first ever that got me hooked is Winter Sonata. I was still living in the Philippines when I saw my first KDrama. The rest, as they say is history. :)

I haven't stopped since then. :)

Well, in the past years when I was in high school, I don't really got hooked with that Korean Drama thing. It's just OK to me. I've watched it on our TV. The first korean drama that I've watched was LOVERS IN PARIS. It's really popular in my country, the Philippines but I didn't got hooked at it. And then, they've shown many korean dramas on TV but I don't care with it even though they've aired the funniest korean drama like My girl, Kim Sam Soon, Coffee Prince, Full House, Choon Hyang and many more. My classmates are always talking about it and I felt like I'm outcast. hahaha! Then, Boys Over Flowers fever came to the Philippines. Yeah, I watched it and we're talking about it but I didn't really got hooked like them saying "I love you Jun Pyo" "I love Ji hoo, He's my husband!" "Yi Jeong, my husband!" they must be crazy.

When I was in college, first year college. My friend, OK, my CRUSH .< She's really beautiful. (kilig.kilig) She always told me to watch this beautiful as in really beautiful drama. I don't know this drama, I don't know if it is korean, taiwanese, japanese or something like that. She's an anime fan and I'm an anime fan too but why is that she's watching drama? Oh my. This beautiful drama was YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL. Because she told me I need to watch it and of course she's my crush (yaaayy) I watched it. Oh myy ~ I GOT HOOKED WITH THE FIRST EPISODE. A.N. JELL! Go Mi Nam, I love you. It's unique, it's like an anime, yeah. It's like a shoujo anime! I got hooked by the first episode to the last. My profile is full of A.N. JELL pcitures, behind the scenes, that pig rabbit and everything about You're Beautiful.

And when I finished it, I want to watch another korean drama as beautiful as You're Beautiful. Perfect Match came, it's OK. Many dramas came and it's OK. And this My Girlfriend is a Gumiho came. I did really fell in love with this beautiful Gumiho, When she cries, I felt sad, when she's happy, I felt happier. THE BEST! And by the way, My crush looks like Gumiho (Seriously, she looks like a korean with long black hair, many people also said she looks like a member of Girls' Generation. uhh!)

When I finished watching Gumiho, I did a researched who made this beautiful Korean Drama. Then, this Hong Sisters appeared, I did a researched with their drama and I've found out they also wrote You're Beautiful! WAAA!! Hail this sisters! They are amazing! I watched all their drama even though it's aired already here in the Philippines and I really got hooked. I must be their fan and here I am, waiting for their drama and I am really a certified K-Drama addict because of You're Beautiful and because of my CRUSH <3

I also enjoyed watching Sungkyunkwan Scandal, The Baker King (my mom first korean drama and her favorite), Dream High, Secret Garden, 49 Days, City Hunter, Hong Sisters' other dramas and many more and I got hooked watching Kim Sam Soon, one of the BEST! ^__^ By the way, I'm a GUY :D you can contact me here: [email protected] if I got that prices, LOL. :)) Thank you. More years to come Dramabeans :D

My first was Dae Jang Geum. I'd been watching the NHK Taiga dramas on saturday night, and those were great, but in the early 2000's there was a short-lived network in the States called AZNTV. They broadcast a really broad range of dramas from China (one I remember called "King of Hell" which was just one step away from Chinese Opera - big eye makeup and very broad, melodramatic acting) and Korea. I believe that was where I saw Dae Jang Geum, which I loved for the cooking and medicine, and the long, complex plot. Right after that they broadcast Full House (cute bb Rain), and I was completely mesmerized.

The combination of those two completely turned me to the dark side. If Korea could produce that range of dramas, I wanted to watch whatever I could get my hands/eyeballs on.

Then I discovered DramaBeans along about the time of Sungkyungkwan Scandal, and life has been super good every since.

BTW, thank you!! And congratulations on five years!!

Hello Javabeans and Girlfriday,

The first Kdrama I ever watched was Personal Taste, however, the first Kdrama I fell in love with was Boys Over Flowers. Lee Min-ho got me interested in Kdramas and I liked how slowly they built the story in BOF. I really liked the second male lead (Kim Hyun Joong's character) and I rooted for him all the way. I thought he was more deserving of Jan Di's love. I have watched that drama a few times (some episodes more than others) and I came to appreciate Lee Min-ho's acting chops in it (and the lady who played his mom as well).

My email: [email protected]

What brought me over to the dark side? Coffee Prince. My first drama was Boys Before Flowers which was terrifically cracktastic, but it was Coffee Prince that pulled me in and I've never looked back (okay MAYBE I've looked back. Me and dramas have a tumultuous relationship--they can only kill SO MUCH of my social life before I start setting boundaries).

congratulations on your 5th anniversary! i still remember when i first discovered this site in its early stages... thank you for all the refresh-button-hits over the years -- it's been a lovely ride!! :D

after much thought and racking of my brain, i pick as THE one that brought me over to the dark side ^^ oh, an jae wook, you and your crazy bangs!

thanks, javabeans & girlfriday & all the other contributors to this blog -- i look forward to many more wonderful years to come!!

Happy 5th Anniversary!

My Drama First Love from three countries...

Taiwan - Meteor Garden - I was one of the first victims of the Asian Wave, fallen head over heels with F4, yep, I'm that old :-p

Korean - Autumn in my Heart - the first time I cried buckets of tears for two days of marawatching.

Japanese - Trick Series

One of my friends gave me "My Girl" on DVD as a gift when I knew nothing about kdramas/kpop. I decided to give it a try, and let me just say, I'm glad I decided to watch it during vacation...I think I actually stayed up 16 hours straight. Lee JunKi will forever be one of my favourite Korean actors.

hmmm i can't even remember it was soo long ago & i've way watched gazzilons of dramas it was either coffee prince or goong or ill house (I'm leaning more towards full house cause i was a kpop fan) yea i think it was full house :s anyways and then after that i went totally drama crazy watching everything i could get my hands on , whether it was pulling all-nighters to finish a drama or watching 4 dramas at once .... i regret nothing ~ :D

My first drama love was Coffee Prince.

I had just moved to Seoul and got to experience the rush of excitement twice a week at 9:55pm waiting for each episode. What wasn't there to fall in love with? Cute boys, summer romances and sets/places that I could actually visit.

My Girl. It wasn't the first drama I ever watched, but it was the first one I truly loved and the one which made me into a kdrama fan. Even now I would still consider it as one of the best-written dramas I've seen, and more importantly (since drama-watching is a subjective experience), it really pushed all the right buttons for me with regard to the central love story. I've watched it four or five times by now, and it's still probably my favorite romcom ever in any language.

My first drama was Full House, followed very quickly by My Girl. It was completely by accident, too. I had a friend who was into drama's and she suggested I give Full House a try. I'm so glad I took her suggestion!

Happy Anniversary!

Before I ever heard of Dramas I never really watched that much tv. One day one of my friends told me she was getting ready to watch Cinderella's Sister. I had no idea what that was about, but I sat down to watch with her. I was hooked by how funny the characters could be, but at the same time the drama was so intense. It helps that the guys were cute too :)

It's no longer my favorite (hi You're Beautiful!) but thanks to CS I've started trying to brush up on my Korean!

Mine was Goong/Princess Hours, the reason it catapulted me into dramas was because I was a typical anime/manga fan and I wanted to see a live adaptation of the manhwa, (good timing that I started reading Goong when they decided to release the drama) I think I already knew of some Japanese anime-->drama adaptations but after watching Goong, I've watched soooo much more k-drama >..< but they're good too e.g. Sam Soon!!!

Winter Sonata, the first drama korean drama that broadcasted in malaysia.

Sassy Girl Choon-Hyang. 쾌걸 춘향. The first drama that pulled me into the k-drama world would definitely be My Name is Kim SamSoon, but the one that made my stay permanent is 쾌걸 춘향.

I remember sitting in my World History class freshman year of high school, bored out of my mind, replaying scenes from the drama in my head in some crazy daze. Yes, the beginning of my k-drama addiction was when I lost quite a bit of my sanity. (a good portion of which I have managed to restore since then;)

Goong/Princess Hours!

It was actually my 2nd kdrama after Save the Last Dance but I loved the OST, so pretty. I was also introduced to Yoon EunHye and preceded by watching all her other dramas. [I love coffee prince! :D] I also really liked her outfits in the drama. I would be all jelly over them heehee :P

Full House. I first caught some episodes on Channel 18 but didn't know the schedule enough to know when the next episode came on. So finally I went hunting and finally secured the whole box set to finish watching in less than a week?

I grew to become a fan of Rain who I did not find particularly attractive at first but as his character developed and matured, so did my love for Rain. He's adorable and after that...it was less and less sleep.

My first kdrama love was Lovers in Paris. It got me really hooked to watch korean dramas.

Due to budget cuts, I was stuck at home. A friend loaned me Autumn In My Heart, even though I profusely refused to watch it. A week of sitting on my shelf, I finally popped it in out of curiosity. In one night, I watched 1.5 discs (5 episodes?), went through a trashcan full of tissues and found myself addicted to KDrama. For a full week, my eyes were puffy from crying and staying open to watch the series.

I've moved on to happier series and watched some great ones due to your recommendations! (Thanks for recommending the Hong sisters!)

Congrats on your five year anniversary! Thank you all for the hard work and time that you've put in. I greatly appreciate it!

So the first drama I saw that got me hooked was My Name is Kim Sam Soon. This was back when I used to download them off IRC one painstaking episode at a time. After that, I went on a drama hunt and watched nothing but J-Dramas until college where I was once again sucked in to the world of K-Dramas through Coffee Prince.

I've been exposed to so much that I have no drama-related regrets!

Oh wow...my drama first love huh? That was such a long time ago haha. I don't know if you guys refer to just kdramas or any dramas because I didn't start with kdramas, I started with hong kong (tvb) dramas. If we are talking about any drama then I would say its a tvb drama called "A Step into the Past" with Louis Koo, Raymond Lam, and Jessica Hsuan in there. Its still one of my favorites even until now.
If we are just strictly talking about kdramas...then I would say that the my drama first love would be "Full House" with Rain and Song Hye Kyo.
Before I watched Full House, I use to dislike korean dramas. I didn't understand why my older sister was so obsess with them (especially with Winter Sonata). I always thought that korean dramas are just tear jerkers and that every one of them are just sad stories. Its not until one day my sis handed me the dvds of Full House (after two days of bragging to me about how hott Rain is lol). I decided to give it a try and see how "hott" this Rain guy is....and I just fell head over heel in love with the drama. It changed my whole world. lol

HAPPY 5 YEARS DRAMABEANS!

(and HAPPY one year to me as your reader! Wow! I can't describe enough how fun it was to be your reader... just WOW!!! :D)

About the question.. Hmm.. the drama that turned me into the dark side was definitely SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME. I don't know when it was shown in Korea but I remember it was 2004 when it was locally aired here in the Philippines. I've been a Kdrama fan ever since and a big Eugene Kim fan.

Spazzing about the drama with my best friends was so much fun. We'd spent every morning before class retelling it even though all of us watched it the other night. and we'd spent every break singing the OST even though we can't understand a thing on what we are singing about. LOL. It's a very treasured memory of my final year in high school.

Seven years after and I'm still a big fan of Korean drama and I owe it to SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME. :)

coffee prince will always be my first love... its my gateway to kdramaland :)

First kdrama to grab my attention and make me addicted to them was Save The Last Dance For Me. Until that drama, I was addicted to only Japanese and Taiwanese dramas. Watched STLDFM and fell in love with Ji Sung. Plus I enjoyed Eugene's acting in this drama. I then moved on to Love that Kills and all of the rest of the kdramas that everyone else watches. Now I can't get enough of Kdramas. Hehehe. There is never enough time in a day for me to watch watch all of the kdramas that I am now watch. Heck, I am even watching dailies and sitcoms because I can't get enough k-dramas to suit my addiction. (>.0)
PS-Happy 5th!!!!! Love your blog-please keep up the great work.

meteor garden! i watched a bit when it first came out and then rewatched it when i was in middle school. grades never stood a chance against my obsession with dramas. i don't know how to clearly explain why the hana yori dango story always gets me, (i love the jp version, hana yori dango too!) but bc of this plot, i can't stop watching dramas and it even helped start me on reading manga. sometimes i know it's a waste of time, but no regrets!

The 'one' drama goes to ..........

Sassy Girl Chun Hyang!!!!

That's the drama that makes me hook on to other k drama series, esp those that are written by the Hong sisters (though I actually watch My Girl first then Chun Hyang).

That's the drama that also have me keep rewinding my player until I have to get another extra set of DVD just to lend my friends.

That's the drama that makes me like Jae Hee so much and I start to notice more Korean guys. HAHA!!

Waiting excitedly for my new Hong sisters show this year... Wondering who will be the leads this time round.. *cross fingers*

When im in 1 st class of junior high, i watched Bae Yong Joon movie, Hotelier,
After that the second lovable kdrama was Full House, so cute and so funnyyyyy
But lately most lovable kdrama i guess Secret Garden, Kim Jo Won Oppa and Gil Ra Im unni was awesome

All about Eve :)

well for me it is Goong then after that I became addicted to Korean dramas. Watching Korean dramas is like being addicted to first class wine---when you try it ..you can't seem to get enough of it--you have to watch at least one episode a night and sometimes you're not even satisfied of watching in the internet nor in cable channels...you resort to buying a dvd =@

Kudos to both of u!! Your blog has been helpful for me in checking out which dramas are good to watch =)

My first drama was My Name is Kim Sam Soon, which was recommended to me by a korean friend as one of the best dramas at the time. This was about 5 years ago, and it got me completely hooked on korean dramas!

However, while Sam Soon was the first drama to pull me over into kdrama world, I never really knew what it was like to be not only addicted by emotionally invested in a drama until You're Beautiful. I laughed, I cried, I've re-watched countless times.

I've watched a million dramas before You're Beautiful, but I will always consider You're Beautiful to be my first true love in kdrama world :)

Delightful Girl Chun Hyang was my first. I'd long heard of kdramas before then but had always arrogantly dismissed the melodramas which were all the rage then (Winter Sonata, Stairway to Heaven, etc.) But once introduced to k-rom-coms, that was it.

Hm, I think it was cinderalla's sister. I had watched some korean dramas before that, but I was still more into japanese dramas. I studied japanese, so when I watched kdramas it just felt like total waste of my time since I couldn't really lie myself that I was watching dramas for study purposes because I didn't know korean at all. But oh well, then I got hooked into Cindrella's sister and since all the japanese dramas at that time sucked, I started watching more and more kdramas. And now that I actually started studying korean, I can combine my studies and pleasure again which is just simply awsome :D

omg the first drama that brought me to the dark side was "Autumn Fairy Tale" with Song Seung Heon and Song Hye Gyo and the young Moon Geun Young. Beautiful people and such a heart-wrenching storyline did me in.

This was probably back in 2001-2002. I remember watching this addictive show and wondering why there were so many dang parts. And each episode just made me cry harder than the last. Ever since then, I have been craving and searching to find more of these korean dramas.

At the time there weren't many resources so there was a lot of waiting around. I finally learned of eBay and bought a lot of Korean movies and poorly subbed Korean Dramas.

I got started with Japanese dramas, Densha Otoko being my first, but that doesn't count at the moment. We're talking Korean dramas, which we can all agree pretty much rule the drama world.

First Korean drama I watched was Successful Story of a Bright Girl and I watched a few here and there after that. However, the one that pushed me over that edge never to go back was Dae Jang Geum. I'm a history major in university and anything relating to that is fascinating. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Hanboks and swords. I credit Ji Jin Hee with my first ajusshi crush.

It's gone steadily and rapidly downhill since that day, but I'm not sorry at all. I've always liked the dark side.

PS dramas make me forget how stressful my life can be ^__^ I thank the drama gods for that.

I always loved watching dramas but I think the drama that really brought me over to the dark side was You're beautiful. I loved this drama so much that I even skipped school for it. I was pretty much obsessed with this drama. I tried to get all my friends to watch it. It was my personal mission to convert them to drama lovers so I set up my laptop in the library at school so that they could watch it. In every conversation I tried to bring you're beautiful, so much so that they got annoyed at me. sighs. I just loved it....jgs and psh 4ever!!!

It's so many years now, I watch asian dramas and I love many of them, but the first love would be probably Goong. This drama has caused my obsession ^_^

SUNGKYUNKWAN SCANDAL!!!! I <3 the drama!!!
it was the first drama i watched and i fell in love with the actors (ESPECIALLY Yoo Ah In and Song Jong Ki)
The plot, casting and overall production was flawless :D

I a a fairly new addict to the crack that is korean drama. My first drama was Boys over flowers which I randomly watched on Netflix in August (of 2011) after reading a article about it on EW.com. It was the first of many marathon drama watching nights (or early mornings depending on how you look at it). Loved loved loved Lee Min Ho is this (the first of my many age inappropriate crushes.) And I hated the last episode and was throughly annoyed with Jan Di by the end. Also I thought the cheesiness (i.e. Saxaphone, etc) and crazy/ random plot twists was purposeful. It wasn't till I watched a lot more dramas did i realize that this wasn't the standard. (My second and third dramas Playful Kiss and Lie to me which obviously did not raise the bar).

I have now watched over 30 dramas and love this site!!
( I have been lurking here for many moons but first time commenting).

Quite difficult to remember. I was first introduced to k-drama when, television went digital in the US, and all these extra channels showed up. I can remember the time I started buying DVD's because I was impatient to see a drama to the end. I'm the type that once hooked on a story from a book, I cannot stop until the end. Same with dramas.
The key dramas that put me over to the dark side, where I would be up for 2-3 days, continuously watching DVDs of dramas to the end include:
**"My Lovely Samsoon" - and my love for all dramas with Kim Su-Na, including "City Hall"
**"I Really Really Like You" - and my love for all dramas with EUGENE
**"Goong" - and my love for all dramas with Yoon Eun Hye
These are the pivotal dramas that have transformed me into k-addict.
I also have to say that you are my HOMEPAGE on my computer website-because I truly depend on you for all my news and updates on KDRAMA.
Congratuations & Happy Anniversary!!!

for me it's Autumn in My Heart.. when that drama was being aired on 2002 in my country, i was living like an housewife (who love watching drama serials)! i was 12 years old, but i don't want to lose its every episodes.. in the afternoon, i didn't even go out to play like others teenagers do, i just waited that drama aired on TV. seriously, LOL my mom was kinda shocked when she saw me always be in front of TV and get attach by that drama. i was not that kind a teenager that really into dramas serials or somehing, cartoon was my only shows! that drama really made my mom thaught that i had a fight w/ m friend! but, hell no ^^, it was just this drama made me like an unusual teenager that longin into drama.
my family, was so confuse and worry abt me..
But the plot and every characters of that drama, and even the OST really caught me! all i know, during that drama was being aired, i just sitting in front of TV and shed my tears.. ooh, shit, seriously, that drama made me shed my tears in front of my mom.. and it was so doom, hahaha so embarassing!
but now, i'm 20, i still have that drama on my HDD! and still enjoy rewatch that drama over and over again!

Afternoon,

In 2004, my friend lent a dvd of SUCCESSFUL STORY OF A BRIGHT GIRL (with Jang Nara and Jang Hyuk) and fell in love it. This is my very first k-drama and had no idea that all korean dramas are love themed.
So it was something new and totally loved it. I watched it 4,5 times to get over my addiction to the drama.

Thank you

The 1st shop of Coffee Prince

My Turkish friend said that I couldn't live in this world anymore if I didn't watch this drama. My first thought was "omg, no, please, another soap opera no" because I'm Brazilian and that's all we have here on TV. But I gave it a chance although I could barely recognize the characters. I just needed 4 episodes to turn me into a completely addicted! I laughed, I cried as I never did before with any other TV production in my life. And still nowadays, years later, my heart aches every time I think about Han Kyul and Eun Chan in the beach scene.
This drama was just the beginning of a crazy race against time to watch every single drama I lost the opportunity to watch during my life until then! LOL